Indian star Dhanush, who previously made his Hollywood debut with the 2018 release of The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir, will soon be starring in Netflix’s action thriller The gray man. The actor plays an assassin with some dialogue and lots of cool action moves.
Considering this was his first big Hollywood experience, Dhanush recently opened up about working on the sets of the Russo Brothers film. The actor stated that he had a lot of fun working with the acclaimed filmmaking duo as their process was easy and smooth. Speaking to indianexpress.com, the actor said he was pretty calm on the first day of sets, despite the language and country being different than what he’s normally used to.
“I wasn’t nervous at all. I felt I had a responsibility now that the West is watching talent from India, I felt I had to deliver so they bring more talent from here, that was the only thing I had in mind. Otherwise I didn’t feel any pressure. Working with the Russo brothers was a really easy and smooth process. They talk to you about the characters and make everything so easy for you. It was really fun working with them,” said Dhanush.
The Russo Brothers, who will soon be coming to India to promote their film, have dabbled in a lot of action from their previous Marvel work. They have directed some of the best-received MCU films, including Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: The Civil War, and Avengers: Infinity War.
Speaking about the difference between the action in Marvel movies and the type of action in The Gray Man, Joe Russo told indianexpress.com: “The gray man has real-life action and everyone is bound by the laws of physics, unlike Marvel where you can use their powers to create wondrous escapes from danger. So that was more difficult because Gray Man is of course human, he encounters a lot of different obstacles in the film. He has to escape from a plane and a well and at one point is handcuffed to a bench. Ryan Gosling’s character has to use a combination of wit and skill to escape, so it’s more difficult for us to envision the resolution of these sequences for someone who doesn’t have superpowers.”
But the Russos also said that the fact that Gray Man is like us makes it interesting: “It takes more focus and discipline. This is more challenging and more fun because it has limitations; it was a nice respite from making superhero movies.”
Starring Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans, Rege-Jean Page, Ana de Armas and Jessica Henwick, The Gray Man hits theaters July 15, followed by a Netflix premiere July 22.